kale market salad

I am back into one of my favorite food blogs: 101cookbooks for this week's recipe. I know... last week's recipe was technically a kale recipe... but this week is malleable, you can use most of the share to make one HUGE salad! Or play around with what veggies to include:


Green Garlic Dressing:
2 stalks green garlic (or scallions), rinsed and chopped (~1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons ripe avocado (** man, don't I wish we could grow these?!?!)
1 teaspoon honey, or to taste
fresh pepper to taste
Veggies:
1/2 bunch kale, destemmed, torn into pieces (plus beet greens, lettuce...)
1 cup cooked farro or wheat berries (semi-pearled or whole) **gluten free: use quinoa, instead!
4-5 farmers' market carrots, very thinly sliced (be sure to use the tops, too!)
1 small bulb of fennel, transparently sliced
**what the heck, add the peas in, too!
1 avocado, cut into small cubes
a big handful of almond slices, toasted

Make the dressing by using a hand blender or food processor to puree the green garlic, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, avocado, honey, and pepper until smooth. Taste, and adjust with more salt, or honey, or lemon juice.
Before you're ready to serve, combine the [greens] with about half of the dressing in a large bowl use your hands to work the dressing into the leaves , softening them up a bit in the process. Add the farro, carrots, and fennel, more dressing, and a couple pinches of salt, and toss again. Taste, and add the last of the dressing if needed. This is a salad I like quite heavily dressed. Add the avocados and almonds and give one last gentle toss.

always be knolling

A good friend of mine just sent this to me... I can't tell you how many times I have knolled! "Put away everything not in use, if you aren't sure, leave it out" ... then arrange it. Organized chaos?! You bet! <3.

belly rubs and beanie turks

Meet Pursey... one of the 4 girl pigs in a gaggle of 5. She LOVES her belly rubbed.

Meanwhile, the turkey are also in love... with the bean tipis! They have been spending the days outside in the sunshine and the nights snuggled up in the greenhouse. (Always caged, of course)

 

the heat is coming!

Although there is a great breeze today, and the mornings have been cool + cloudy, NOAA says we're about to turn up the heat!

So, this week's recipe calls for drinking those greens, not cooking them!

I LOVE green smoothies, kale, spinach, bok choy, even mustard greens all make their ways into the blender at some point in the summer. Last week at market, even, I asked our smoothie vendor to throw in some of the mustard I nabbed from our display! (I wouldn't recommend starting with mustard if you are a first-timer, though, something lighter like the choy or the kale is best).

I also feel that yogurt is essential, along with fruit, to sweeten things up a bit (apple juice, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, you name it!). If you are really needing sweet, add cocoa powder or maple syrup, too.

Here are a few sources for green smoothies. And if your freezer isn't stocked with last year's berries, I know Harold at the Tamworth Farmer's Market has some frozen fall raspberries!

Smoothie Handbook gives you a complete low-down on how-to's and what-to's!

RealSimple offers up bananas and apple juice

The Holy Kale adds almond butter - yummo!

and, finally, Whole Foods suggests double fisting those greens... 

So, give it a shot, let me know what you think, what you change, and if you need more kale!

4 faces, 1 fanny

New arrivals at the farm!

sunshine!

With the return of the sun comes the return of a heavier harvest. 

This week's recipe includes bok choy. Many members commented today that they don't know what to do with the Asian green... raw or cooked, this beautiful little member of the brassica family is delicious, too!

Bok Choy With Cashews adapted from simplyrecipes

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped green onions, including green ends
3 cloves garlic, chopped *** garlic scapes work well here, too!***
1 pound bok choy, rinsed, choped
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
Salt to taste
1/2 cup chopped, roasted, salted cashews

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. 

Add onions, then garlic, then bok choy. 

Sprinkle with sesame oil and salt. 

Cover, and let the bok choy cook down for approximately 3 minutes. (Like spinach, when cooked, the bok choy will wilt a bit.)

Remove cover.

Lower heat to low.

Stir and let cook for a minute or two longer, until the bok choy is just cooked.

Gently mix in cashews.

 

Say peas!

Peas planted March 5th, that were making strides three weeks later, are now just about in full swing! The lack of sun for the past week has set them back a bit... but we brought in just over a pound during this morning's rain and there are plenty more to come!

carrot tops?! yes!

We thinned the carrots this morning during harvest... what to do with the greens?! EAT THEM!

Granted, there are relatives to the carrot that are NOT edible, some are even poisonous. I have gotten sun blisters from parsnip leaves and reacted to Queen Anne's Lace, as well. 

But the tops of carrots are not only edible, they are RICH in protein, vitamin K, potassium, and chlorophyll.I had a customer at market years ago who would ask for all of the carrot tops that were rejected by other customers, she simple LOVED them!

Here are some options for cooking, eating, and enjoying those fluffy green tops... and don't forget the little orange tag-along!

tomatillos

In a fit of productivity, Jared + I planted the greenhouse this afternoon with purple tomatillos (that's right, purple!) It has been tough to get into the fields and plant with all of this RAIN (we got over 6 inches in the past 3 days!), so it's nice to be able to get stuff planted indoors, at least. 

We even got started on trellising!

special delivery

Sweet potato slips arrived today! I promptly potted them up and stuck them in the germinator to warm them up a bit (lack of sun and cool temps don't bode well for newly arrived heat-loving babies). 

 

been tipis!

With school coming to a yearly end soon, I wanted to make sure that the garden had a touch of student fun for the summer. Last Friday, a crew of students put together, and planted, bean tipis for pole beans to climb. I can't wait for the beans to grow, grow, grow!

Thanks to Kathy, her science class kiddos, and the garden stewardship class. YOU ROCK!